By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

Posted April 30, 2008 – Sen. Barack Obama did everything he could to distance himself from his former pastor, respectfully, but the Rev. Jeremiah Wright went too far in his latest public appearances. Wright’s antics have angered Obama, forcing him to denounce, disown and break ties with the flamboyant and arrogant pastor.

And, yes, I said “arrogant.”

After Obama witnessed what he called “rants” by the former pastor of  the Trinity United Church in Chicago that were  “not grounded in truth,” he realized it was time speak out.

“The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago,” Obama said.  Wright made it easy for Obama to rebuff him, and it may lead to the Illinois senator leaving the church altogether.

Wright, so caught up in his 15 minutes of fame, somehow thought he should take a national platform – not once, not twice but three times – to defend his name and his views on America, even if it meant jeopardizing Obama’s candidacy. 

Wright’s spectacle at the press club furthered negative stereotypes and re-enforced the fears of an “angry Black man” held by many Whites. If this latest episode derails Obama’s bid for the White House, Wright might find that Black folks are his greatest critics. 

“When I say I find these comments appalling, I mean it,” Obama told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.  “It contradicts everything that I’m about and who I am. And anybody who has worked with me, who knows my life, who has read my books, who has seen what this campaign is about, I think will understand that it is completely opposed to what I stand for and where I want to take this country.”

The airwaves will be filled with Wright’s comments now throughout the rest of the primary season.  The constant chatter about the ordeal will make it more difficult for Obama to stay on message, and the news media will pass on discussing gas prices to follow the circus appeal of Wright.

Obama, obviously agitated by Wright’s allegations, said, “But he states, and then amplifies, such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. Government somehow being involved in AIDS; when he suggest that Minister [Louise] Farrakahan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st century; when he equates the United States’ wartime efforts with terrorism, then there are no excuses,”Obama said. 

Wright’s statements combined with his attacks on White America were obviously riveting for the Illinois senator.   “I have spent my entire life trying to bridge the gap between different kinds of people,” Obama said.   

“His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate,” Obama told reporters on the campaign trial in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Of course, the big question is what impact this will have on his campaign. We’ll have to wait for the next contest to get the answer. 

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

Posted April 29, 2008 – One thing’s for sure: Daily opinion polls aren’t helping Democrats make up their minds about who should be their nominee.  But the Republican Party is ready to unite against Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) if she becomes the Democratic choice for president. Her nomination is just what Republicans need to get conservatives to rally for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

It’s no secret that Republican voters are less likely to cross party lines to support a Democrat for  president, but it’s a certainty they won’t if that Democratic is Clinton.  

In an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released on Tuesday Clinton gained some ground on her Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill). When matched against McCain,  Clinton leads McCain 50 percent to 41 percent, while Obama and McCain were locked in a virtual tied, Obama 44 percent to McCain’s 46 percent. (The margin of error is 3.1 percent.)

But there is a larger margin of error when looking at another reality: how much some Republicans dislike the New York senator. 

McCain has been running unchallenged for the most part, while the Democrats slug it out for the nomination. But he’s been working hard on swaying those conservative Republican’s, who haven’t jumped on board with his candidacy. 

McCain has enjoyed a holiday of sorts since becoming the presumptive Republican nominee, but I’ve heard McCain knows it’s not smooth sailing when polls continue to show him trailing or tied with both Democratic challengers.

So what’s he doing about it?  McCain is tending to mending fences inside his party.  He’s been holding meetings with conservative members of Congress, working on building a coalition of right-wing activists and sharing his stance on “hot-button” issues, such as abortion, immigration and tax cuts. 

He’s even courting African-American voters by touring places other Republican candidates haven’t.  He visited a poor Black community in Alabama, a coal town in Kentucky and went to New Orleans and denounced the federal government’s 2005 response to Hurricane Katrina.

McCain is often quick to pile on the negatives about Obama because his camp believes McCain would defeat Clinton since Republicans would be motivated to go to the polls and rally behind McCain.

Obama, who leads in pledged delegates and the popular vote, has been training some of his comments on the campaign trail toward McCain, rather than Clinton.  On Tuesday he criticized his gas-tax holiday proposal.  “He had the gall yesterday to tell me that obviously because I didn’t agree with his plan I must not be sympathetic to poor people,” Obama said.

It looks like McCain will have to wait until the end of the Democratic primary before he’ll know for sure who he will be running against. 

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer
Posted April 25, 2008 – The White House Correspondents Association Dinner (WHCA) will take place on Saturday night with more than 2,500 reporters, producers and celebs on hand to walk the red carpet and talk politics. 

The black tie dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel, in northwest Washington, D.C., is one of the hottest tickets in the nation’s capitol.  Members of the association have a friendly competition, vying to host the high profile political and celebrity guests. 

This year, the BET News team has landed a few high profile guests for the event.  Our guest this year will include, actress Tasha Smith, the newly crowned Miss USA Chrystal Stewart and Maryland’s Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown.

President George Bush will give brief remarks that usually poke fun at the White House press core.  With this being Bush’s last dinner as Commander-in-Chief, his participation at the podium should be memorable.

The entertainment for the annual dinner will be Craig Ferguson, the host of CBS’ The Late, Late Show.   Tickets for the dinner are tough to get but the proceeds raised are put to good use.  The year’s event raises money for the WHCA scholarships and honors professional journalist with awards.

The off the record event always makes on the record news - so it we’ll have to wait and see who the newsmakers will be this year.

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer 

LOS ANGELES (Posted April 24, 2008) – I’m away from campaign coverage for a few days to attend The Knight Digital Media Center fellowship “Election ’08: Unleashing the Cyber-Watchdogs, hosted by the Knight Digital Media Center.

I’m here with some 20 journalist all who report for newspapers and Websites across the country.  

Today is the first full day and I though my readers would be interested in one of the featured websites shared during this morning sessions.  The St. Petersburg Time’s has a political fact checking section on their site. 

The editor for this section of the south Florida newspaper takes comments from the presidential candidates and checks to see how accurate their comments really are.  While some are easily designated “true or false” some are so outrageous they are rated “Pant’s on Fire.”   Here’s the link if you would like to check it out! 

 http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/
 

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer  

PHILADELPHIA (Posted April 23, 2008) – The victory was just hours old when Sen. Hillary Clinton thanked supporters in the Park Hyatt Hotel ballroom while simultaneously asking them to send in the cash. 

“Tonight, more than ever, I need your help to continue this journey. This is your campaign and this is your victory tonight,” she told a cheering crowd.  

“We can only keep winning if we can keep competing with an opponent who outspends us so massively. So, I hope you’ll go to HillaryClinton.com and show your support tonight because the future of this campaign is in your hands,” she said.

Clinton has been trailing in delegates, the popular vote and fundraising. Clinton started the month of April with $9.3 million and debts of $10.3 million leaving her   more than $800,000 in debt, compared with Sen. Barack Obama, whose campaign owes less than $600,000 and still has more than $42 million on hand for the primary.

But money isn’t the only thing Clinton is hemorrhaging; the Black vote has all but deserted the candidate since the South Carolina primary.  Obama garnered 92 percent of the Black vote in Pennsylvania to Clinton’s 8 percent.

So has she given up on the Black vote?

“Absolutely not,” Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones told me following the projected announcement of Clinton’s victory.   “If she had given up on it, I would not be here today.”

Tubbs was one of several high-ranking Black surrogates on hand Tuesday night to celebrate the victory and deliver the message of why Clinton should be the nominee.
 
 Philadelphia’s Mayor Michael Nutter told me, “She’s best poised to win in big cities and small towns across the country.”

Mayor Douglas Palmer, of Trenton, N.J., agrees with Tubbs when it comes to Black voters.  “A lot of African Americans see a creditable candidate [in Obama], but at the end of the day we need to look at the states she’s won: Ohio, Texas – and African Americans will respond to her,” he insisted.

The win in Pennsylvania will not change the math for Clinton, but her campaign predicts she’ll nab more super-delegates because of it.  Based on the latest calculations by NBC News, when you add in the super-delegates who have already committed, 238 for Obama and 262 for Clinton, along with the pledged delegates, Obama still leads 1,881 to 1,853.

Now the campaign moves to Indiana and North Carolina where primaries will be held May 6.

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Poltical Producer

9:30 p.m.  EST

PHILADELPHIA (Posted April 22, 2008) - Sen. Hillary Clinton is the projected winner of the Pennsylvania primary tonight.  With 12 percent of the precients counted, Clinton has won with 53 percent to 47 percent. 

The ballroom went crazy when the win was announced.  Clinton is expected to speak to supporters 10 p.m EST.

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Poltical Producer
8:00 p.m.

PHILADELPHIA (Posted April 22, 2008) – The polls have closed and the results are starting to come in across the Keystone State.  Early exit polls indicate one voting block was clearly for freshman Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). 

I’m here at the Clinton headquarters in the Park Hyatt Hotel in downtown Philadelphia where she is expected to greet supporters later tonight in the ballroom.

According to CNN’s exit polls, 92 percent of African-American in the state voted for Obama, leaving only eight percent for his rival Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).  But it might not be enough to close the predicted shortfall for Obama with White voters.

Networks are shying away from making predictions early in this competitive race and opting for ”too close call”  in the early hours.  Another problem with projections will be two of the largest populated parts of the states, Pittsburg and Philadelphia have late voters and are historically slow reporting their results.

I’ll keep you updated as the night goes on. 

9:00 p.m.

The polls have been closed for an hour and with a little more than five percent of the precients reporting; Clinton leads with 57 percent to Obama’s 47 percent.   

During an importuned new conference Terry McAuliffe, Clinton told reporters, after tonight’s win, Clinton will  secure more super-delegates and remain in the race.

“When do I think it will end -  in June,”  he predicted.  “It’s been a tough primary, but we’ve got time [the Democratic Part] to bring folks together,” he said.

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

 2:30 p.m. EST

PHILADELPHIA (Posted April 22, 2008) – The record number of new registered voters is expected to break numbers across Pennsylvania today, and Philadelphia is no exception.

There are more than 215,000 first-time voters here in Philly and they could determine who wins the states. Dems have registered more than 4.2 million statewide and feel confident they’ll show up at the polls.

This morning polling places in the metro area were reporting a study flow of voters and that held true in north Philadelphia at the North Lowell Elementary School.   Lynette Brennon, a retired African-American grandmother said she cast her vote in for the future.  “Right outside my home there are killings and drugs and we need a president like Barack Obama to make my grand kids life better.” 

There are 103 delegates at stake her in the Keystone State that will be awarded proportionally according to congressional districts vote totals and 55 at-large delegates awarded by statewide vote totals.  

Anthony Lowman, 44, an unemployed loan officer and veteran was handing out leaflet and asking folks to vote for Obama.  “I think he’ll get the troops out of Iraq sooner rather than later and he’ll help the homeless veterans, we have a lot of them here in Philly.”

Gregory Riley lives in southwest Philadelphia and is a laid off truck driver.  “That’s why  I’m voting for change,” he told me.  The husband and father said, “Obama seems to have  fresh ideas and he’s inspiring – sorta like [President John F. Kennedy] JFK.

The weather here is sunny and mild and will surely help turnout.  The polls close at 7 p.m., and exit results will soon follow.   I’ll keep you posted. 

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

PHILADELPHIA  (Posted April 22, 2008) – Whether today’s Pennsylvania primary  is a close shave or a landslide, there’s one thing for sure: It will be a milestone in one of the longest primary races in the history of the Democratic nominating process.

Not many people are really expecting Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to defeat Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) – who has Pennsylvania roots (along with ties to Illinois, Arkansas and New York)  – but everyone is waiting to see if Clinton will be able to wallop her rival by taking more than 10 percent of the vote. Such a decisive victory – even though Clinton was up 20 to 30 percentage points not that long ago – makes it difficult to argue that she should surrender the fight. Her campaign would get a much-needed jolt at a time when it’s broke and lacks a clear plan for beating Obama, who has won more states, more delegates and more popular votes.

In downtown Philadelphia Monday, I passed Clinton and Obama supporters chanting on street corners and waving campaign signs for their presidential pick.

Two Clinton supporters, Trint Hagler, 27, from Dallas and Phyllis Beard, 37, from New York, traveled here to help get the vote out for today’s primary.  “She has real solutions for real problems,” Hagler said.

But in our unofficial survey of 10 random folks on the street, none of the Clinton supporters was from Philadelphia. Of the 10 people BET interviewed, four were Clinton supporters and six were for Obama.  But four Clinton supporters were from out of state and won’t be able to cast a vote in the Pennsylvania primary today.

Obama is expected to get the votes of most of the African Americans in this town, where Blacks make up 45 percent of the city’s population.  But the African-American mayor, Michael Nutter isn’t one of them.

Nutter told BET why he’s supporting Clinton. “When you look at Sen. Clinton’s record, when you look at her experience, when you understand all that she’s accomplished, it became clear to me that Sen. Clinton is the best candidate,” he said.

Ethan Fraser, a 19-year-old freshman political science major at Penn State University, doesn’t agree with Nutter.   “Obama is inspiring, and he inspires me – that one day I can be [running for president] in the same position,” he said.

Clinton is planning a victory rally in Philadelphia tonight, and Obama is heading to Indiana, where polls have the two candidates in a dead heat. 

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

1:00 PM EST

BLUE BELL, Penn. (Posted April 21, 2008) – So what are the bread and butter issues important to Pennsylvania voters?  That’s the question Sen. Barack Obama asked some 40 folks who gathered at Montgomery County Community College’s this afternoon.

 The group gathered with the Illinois senator on a patio outside the student center building near budding spring trees and a children’s campus daycare.  The community college is located about 45 minutes from downtown Philly and has a diverse community of Black, White, old, young, urban and rural. 

Obama veered away from his stump speech and told folks during his mini-town hall he wanted to talk about the “bread and butter issues” impacting their daily lives. He opened the floor to questions saying, “What are you seeing day to day; what frustrates you the most; and if you have a good story to tell, I’m happy to hear about it all.” 

The senator is going to spend abut 35 minutes taking quenstions.